Shudder

Pros

Large collection of horror films and shows. Charming interface and style. Inexpensive. No ads.

Cons

Missing some classic suspense and horror films. Not all content is 1080p. No offline downloads.

Bottom Line

Horror-themed streaming service Shudder is a scary good deal for fans of the genre, but it doesn't offer enough popular content or features to bewitch the masses.

Oct. 18, 2019

Horror movies aren't only for getting into the Halloween spirit. If the idea of Shudder, a horror- and thriller-centric video streaming service, possesses your interest, there's nothing stopping you from using the service year-round. With a subscription to the AMC Networks-backed service, you get access to an expansive on-demand library of shows and movies, some of which are original productions and exclusives. The best part is that Shudder presents everything without ads. While the service is missing some notable titles and the technical capabilities aren't up to par, horror fans should still consider venturing into its vast woods of content, even if just for a month or two.

What Can I Watch on Shudder?

Shudder's collection of films and TV shows is for fans of scares and thrills. I like that Shudder lets you browse its titles without needing to sign up for the service.

For those not well-versed in the horror genre, Shudder highlights some helpful collections of movies to get you started. The Shudder Essential collection, for example, includes 17 films such as Halloween, Night of the Living Dead, Old Boy, Re-Animator, The Changeling, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Viy. Additional featured collections at the time of publishing include A Shudder Halloween, Queer Horror, and Only on Shudder. Shudder is also a destination for original productions and exclusives. Original movies include Belzebuth;Deadtectives;Gwen; Party Hard, Die Young; Primal Screen;The Ranger; and The Witch Window. Exclusive films include The Furies, Phantasm: Remastered, One Cut of The Dead, and Tigers Are Not Afraid.

Some notable films you won't find here are Alien;Child's Play; any of the classic Frankenstein movies; Jaws;Psycho;Rosemary's Baby; movies based on Stephen King stories, such as Carrie, The Mist, or The Shining; The Witch;Saw,any entries in the The Evil Dead series; The Exorcist;The Fly; or The Thing. Horror fans do have other options, if those omissions are deal breakers. Check out our roundup of the best horror films you can watch on video streaming services. Some people may consider these titles indispensable to the genre, but others may consider them outside the more narrow horror scope. In any case, if you can't find the show or movie you want to watch, Shudder encourages you to request it.

Apart from movies, Shudder also offers a smaller collection of TV shows. Its original titles include A Discovery of Witches, Creepshow, Deadwax, Missions, and The Core. Shudder also produces a series of original podcast experiences, such as Eli Roth's History of Horror: Uncut, She Kills, and Video Palace. In addition, Shudder is the exclusive home of other shows, including Angelby, Black Lake, Critters: A New Binge, Stan Lee's Lucky Man, Todd & The Book of Pure Evil, and Wolf Creek. For more horror shows, visit our roundup of the best original horror shows.

Costs and Platforms

Shudder costs $5.99 per month, but you can save money by opting for the $56.99-per-year annual plan. Hulu's and CBS All Access' ad-supported plans match Shudder's price, but both offer a far more mainstream collection of streaming content. Unlike, those services, however, Shudder presents its content without ads. Apple TV+ will undercut this price when it launches for $4.99 per month.

Other on-demand video streaming services are more expensive, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video (both cost $8.99 per month), but those, too, offer more shows, movies, and original series with a wider appeal. Premium subscription services like HBO Now ($15.99 per month), Starz ($8.99 per month), and Showtime ($10.99 per month) are more expensive than Shudder.

Whether Shudder is a good value depends on two things: whether you like horror and suspense movies and whether you like the ones that Shudder offers. After all, it is missing quite a few classic horror and suspense movies. If you just want to use it during the Halloween season or frequently watch horror movies for fun, then Shudder may be worth the cost—especially given how inexpensive it is.

You can download the Shudder app on Android and iOS devices; Roku and Fire TV streaming devices; and theXbox One. You can also watch Shudder via a web browser. Missing from this list are PlayStation consoles, Chromecast devices, and smart TVs. Shudder says it requires internet connection speeds (download) of at least 6Mbps.

Web Interface

Signing up for Shudder is simple; all you need to do is provide an email address, password, and payment details. Shudder does give you a seven-day free trial but requires you add a credit card on file. This is standard practice with most video streaming services.

Shudder's web interface uses a black, white, and red color scheme befitting its content. You navigate the interface via the Collections, Movies, Series, My List, and Search menu items at the top of the screen. The My List section allows you to organize collections of movies and shows into a single place. To add a title, just mouse over it and click the My List button. Unfortunately, there's no way to sort the content you add to this list (Shudder organizes titles by reverse chronological order). The search works fine for finding specific entries in Shudder's catalog, but the tool does not support searches by director, description, or subgenre. The My Account area only offers basic functionality. Here, you can edit your account email address, reset your password, create a display name, and update billing information.

I do appreciate Shudder's subtle horror-themed interface effects; for example, if you mouse over the Movies or Series categories, the menu items shake back and forth. If you try to play some content without signing in, Shudder informs you that "It seems you're not one of us…yet." If you reset your password, Shudder sends an email with the subject line, "A Special Invitation…To Reset your Password."

Shudder's homepage highlights some featured content in a large horizontally sliding gallery. You can directly play titles or add them to the My List section. The Collections section organizes films across broader categories, including Horror 101, Subgenres, Borderlands, and Guest Spotlights (movie picks from celebrity-types important to the genre). The Movies section features a helpful selection tool, which breaks titles down by genres (such as cult, psychological thriller, paranormal, revenge, sci-fi, and supernatural) and lets you sort by what's newly added. I wish that the sitewide search captured these genre types. The Series sections is much more manageable, but I still would have liked to see some options for filtering the list, especially given that Shudder organizes both TV shows and podcasts in this same section.

If you see a movie or series you want to watch, click on the description to get more information or directly on the thumbnail to launch the player. Landing pages for shows and movies show basic information (MPAA rating, language, runtime), expanded descriptions, a skull rating (subscribers can rate content on a scale of up to five skulls), and a trailer option if available. You can view related content and other member's reviews of the title. I really like that Shudder includes user reviews, which gives the service a bit of personality, though the quality of said reviews will vary.

The last section, Shudder TV, shows a constant stream of horror movies in a few separate themes. At the time of publishing, there is an It Came From Shudder channel and another called Slashics. My personal favorite, though, is the Ghoul Log (everyone remembers the Yule Log?), which shows a continuous stream of a flickering Jack O' Lantern, complete with weather effects and creepy noises, such as footsteps, screams, and tapping.

Shudder on Mobile

Shudder's mobile apps are available on iOS and Android. I tested the experience on a Google Pixel 3 running Android 10 and had no trouble logging in to my account. The account section in the app is fairly useless; you can only view your associated username and email account, but not change anything. The Shudder app performed without issue in testing, though I did notice some lag and longer loading times when launching content or scrubbing through it. You do get some of the same campy effects in the app as on the web; instead of loading icons, for example, you watch the Shudder logo shake back and forth.

The mobile apps use the same style and color scheme as the web interface. You navigate via four icons on the bottom of the screen: Featured, Shudder TV, Collections, and Browse. The My List content lives under the Featured section. The rest of the categories show the same content as on the web. The search bar lives in the upper-right hand side of the interface. Unfortunately, the now-playing screen does not offer any options to change or even see the playback resolution. There is a CC toggle, however.

Note that you cannot download titles for offline viewing, which is problematic for all those times you get stranded somewhere out in the woods or stuck in an abandoned house with no connection. Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, HBO Now, Showtime, and Starz all offer at least some offline download capability.

Performance and Playback Experience

As mentioned, not all of Shudder's content is available in 1080p. Some older content may simply not be available in higher resolutions, so I can't entirely fault Shudder. I did notice some content was capped to 480p, which is less than ideal. All of the original series I launched had a 1080p option. Most other on-demand video streaming services offer at least 1080p streams, while some, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, offer shows in 4K. Again, I appreciate that Shudder does not throw in any ads, not even the pre-roll ones that services like Amazon and HBO use to advertise their content.

In testing, Shudder titles ramped up to full quality quickly after they finished loading. You get typical playback and volume controls, a 10-second Rewind button (but no fast-forward button), and a progress bar for playback. Audio sounded clear in my testing as well, which is a must for the genre.

For reference, I tested Shudder's streaming performance with an Ethernet connection rated at 200Mbps (download) and a Wi-Fi connection on mobile with speeds of 12Mbps (download). On the desktop, I streamed The Night of the Living Dead without any issues. I successfully resumed playback on mobile partway through the film.

Accessibility and Parental Controls

Shudder provides basic closed-caption options with all the content I tried, though you can't change the appearance or size of the text. You also won't find anything similar to the audio descriptions feature that Netflix and Amazon Prime Video provide. Essentially, this option adds vocal narration to the scene to describe settings and character movements that can't be surmised from just the character dialogue.

Shudder does not offer any parental control features. Though the content ratings for most of its content are prohibitive to younger audiences, some parents might want to allow their children to watch certain films on the platform. Older films or certain genres may be less violent or otherwise permissible given their classic status in cinema history. Netflix, Prime Video, and HBO Now provide robust parental control options. In a similar vein, Shudder should also add the ability to create separate user profiles for family members.

Shudder and VPN

Your ISP is the real monster when it comes to invading your privacy. You can hide your traffic from it by using a VPN to connect to the internet. Many video streaming services prevent you from using a VPN to stream content, since your location may determine what content is available to you. For example, Shudder is only available in the US (and its territories), Canada, Ireland, and the UK. Shudder does say it plans to expand worldwide soon.

Shudder worked fine with the VPN I tried. I streamed content both via a desktop web browser and from my mobile device after I connected to a US-based Mullvad VPN server. Even if you find a VPN that works with your service now, it may not work in the future. It is common for video streaming services to actively shut down VPN traffic to their sites. We recommend that you choose a VPN based on its privacy policy, security, and speed, rather than on which video steaming services support it.

Horror Fest

If you are a fan of horror or suspense, don't fear Shudder. The service presents a good collection of movies, TV shows, and original productions in an attractive interface across several platforms without ads. For all its charm, Shudder is missing some classic horror and thriller movies, and you can't download individual titles to stream offline. Netflix is our Editors' Choice for video streaming services, while Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV are our top choices for streaming live TV.

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About the Author

Ben Moore is a Junior Analyst for PCMag’s software team. He has previously written for Laptop Mag, Neowin.net, and Tom’s Guide on everything from hardware to business acquisitions across the tech industry. Ben holds a degree in New Media and Digital Design from Fordham University at Lincoln Center, where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of The Observer, the student-run newspaper. He spends his free time taking photos and reading books. You can follow him on Twitter at @benmoore214. See Full Bio